A. Citation for book (In APA style) Noguera, P. (2003). City Schools and the American Dream; New York, NY.: Tcpress.com.
B. Summary of book's argument taken as best you can from the introduction. In City Schools and the American Dream, Noguera describes the central problems facing urban schools. Noguera attempts to provide answers to the following questions: why is it that many students don’t learn very much or very well in many of the urban schools? What is there about the schools we have created and invested billions of dollars in, that have led some students to reject school entirely and turned so many of them off to learning? Why are so many urban schools utterly inept at carrying out this basic task, a task nearly as old as human civilization itself? He also delineates potential strategies for improvement. He believes that educating all children, even those who are poor and non-white, is possible. He also discusses how external conditions affect the ability of schools to serve the needs of children and provides a possible solution what it would take to respond adequately to these needs
C. Brief description of author's background.
Pedro A. Noguera is the Judith K Dimon Professor of Communities and Schools at Harward Graduate School of Education. He has done extensive field research and served as a member of the U.S. Public Health Service Centers for Disease Control Taskforce on Youth Violence, and as Chair of the Committee on Ethics in Research and Human Rights for the American Educational Research Association. He was a teacher for a several years. Pedro Noguera Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education
D. Description of the scope your reading, e.g. what chapters, (with titles) you plan to read.
Chapter 3: Understanding the Link Between Race and Academic Achievement Chapter 5: Changing Schools from the Outside-In: Potential Role of Social Capital and Civic Capacity
How was your decision about what to read influenced by your goals concerning the book?
My goal is to be able to understand why minority students tend to achieve at lower rates than white students. Urban schools mostly serve students of color; therefore, I want to understand if culture – student’s family life is the cause for the achievement gap. I am also interested to know how schools can be improved from the outside-in.
E. How do you see the knowledge gained from your portion of the book contributing to the class's understanding of schools, teaching, and/or school reform?
1. Urban schools provide services desperately needed by poor families:
The parents of students attending urban schools described how important the public schools were to them. They did not complain about the overcrowded classrooms, or teachers teaching without being certified. Instead, they were appreciative that they had a safe place to send their children, a place away from the drug infested and crime-pestered neighborhood. The fact that their children were fed, and in some instances provided with health care was enough reason to be thankful about. “We are poor, without power or rights. At least our children have an education. Yes, there are problems in the schools, but we have hope that the future for our children will be better.” For many poor students, schools provide a source of stability often lacking in other aspects of their lives.
2. For this reason, policy makers that are critical of urban public schools need to understand the how important public schools are to these communities. Their reforms cannot jeopardize the interests of these poor families without making any effort in addressing the problems their neighborhoods face. I read that most of the popular educational reforms enacted by states and the federal government fail to address the severe social and economic conditions in urban areas that consistently affect the quality of public schools education.
F. Summary of Chapter 3 & Chapter 5:
Chapter 3: Understanding the Link Between Race and Academic Achievement
The relationship between race, class and school performance has been a consistent feature of the educational system in the United States. U.S. public schools are not the “great equalizer” as it was envisioned by Horace Mann who was the early architect of American public education; instead the inequality has been maintained over the years. The pattern of inequality that has been observed minority and disadvantaged children compared to affluent white students do less and performed at a lower level. This inequality has even been observed in schools where children of different background attend same school; white children outperform non-whites and the children of the poor perform below the more affluent students.
Why has the link between race and academic achievement endured for so long? Noguera thinks that, even though the influence of White supremacy is less relevant today, “there is evidence that its legacy and concomitant presumption of non-White inferiority are still very much a part of the present.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 43) We have to remember that during slavery and colonization, non-whites, especially blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics, were presumed or viewed as inferior people. Today, this way of thinking is politically not acceptable, however, scholars, even though they are not geneticists, periodically reintroduce into the public the thought that differences in achievement and academic performance is attributed to innate differences in intelligence and genetic abilities.
Sad but true, racial and class characteristics of the neighborhood are also link to the academic outcomes of children. Noguera said, “Demographic patterns with respect to the composition of neighborhood and schools, the relationship between school location and the test scores of children hardly seems surprising or unusual ; the scores follow a pattern that Americans historically have come to expect as “normal.” (Noguera, 2003, p.43)
Chapter 5: Changing Schools from the Outside-In: Potential Role of Social Capital and Civic Capacity
School reforms have a pattern of failure in urban school districts. Policy makers and reform advocates are convinced that other alternatives strategies to improve the quality of public education must be considered. Two sstrategies, developing social capital of parents and developing civic capacity of communities, if implemented correctly, may bring several significant changes and may be the most important steps taken to further educational reform in urban school districts and they can produce lasting changes in urban school districts.
Developing Social capital
Noguera said, “Developing the social capital of parents may be the only way to address the captured market problem.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 97) Where there is no incentive for good service or penalty for poor service, it it’s difficult to see improvement. “If the quality of service provided has no bearing on the ability of an organization to continue to operate and if those who receive the service have no way to effectively register their concerns, self-initiated change is less likely.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 97) Proponents of vouchers have understood the importance of addressing the captured market problem. They think that this is the solution to the problem, if parents are not satisfied with the quality of education offered to their children, then parents can take their children to another school. This will force bad schools to close and create competition, which ultimately will be the best way to promote reform. Voucher may appeal minority parents and parents living in low-income neighborhoods, but they do not know that only the schools have the choice who will be admitted to a school. High performing schools have limited space and private schools only favor affluent students. Research on voucher programs indicates that private schools are not better than public schools at educating low-income students. Research also indicated that private schools are seeking the opportunity to educate poor children when they leave their public schools.
On the other hand, if efforts are combined with policies that empower parents and make schools accountable to those they serve, then idea of developing the social capital of parents by addressing the captured market problem can develop changes in the education of urban neighborhoods. Chicago implemented this strategy by creating a local site council (LCS) comprised of parents and community representatives. This council has the responsibility for hiring and monitoring the performance of the school principal, reviewing and approving the school’s budget, and receiving reports on academic plans. Empowering parents must also be combined with ongoing efforts to keep parents informed about their rights and responsibilities so that the LCS does not under control or become manipulated by school administrators. The efforts to develop the social capital of parents may greatly benefit and it is a requirement to make this effort a success, community-based organizations must actively support this initiative by providing with technical assistance, translation services, and child care. For example churches with strong ties with poor neighborhoods and have seen recent immigrants, can help these parents communicate with the school of their children. Unlike public schools, charter schools require active participation and they also provide parents a basis for collective empowerment. The common interest of the organized parents is quality education for their children. As an organized group they are at a better position to demand quality education and hold schools accountable when they don’t meet their expectations. “Strategies such as these represent significant investments in the social capital of parents because they fundamentally change the relationship between parents and schools.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 98) Unlike charter schools, public schools interact with school staff as individuals.
Developing Civic Capacity
Civil capacity also happens outside of schools. It has a direct impact. It requires organizations and institutions that do not have any direct relationship to education to play an active role in supporting schools in their efforts to provide services to students. It forces them to bring the resources they control to support public schools on their goal of educating students. It also forces them to stop blaming schools for their failures and instead to join them in their fight.
Civic capacity involves the following four different kinds of activities:
First, it entails the use of volunteers in roles as tutors and mentors for students. For example, in San Francisco, a private nonprofit corporation coordinates the recruiting and training of volunteers who provide a variety of services in schools. Americorp Program gets university students to provide college counseling, tutoring and other services to students. These strategies help schools reduce the adult-to-student ratio and help them address the needs of students who have fallen behind academically.
Second, civic capacity can involve the formation of school-community partnerships to provide work-related internships and to support in the development of career academies. Research also indicates that career academics for high school students are the most successful means for increasing student engagement in school. (Noguera, 2003; Conchas, 2001) In order to obtain maximum benefit from these programs, the internships need to produce genuine career opportunities for students. For example, Bayer Corporation at Berkeley High school is an excellent model of what a genuine career opportunity can accomplish. Students in the program receive advanced training in science and math, and also have the opportunity to pursue biotechnology through their partnership with local community colleges and universities. Noguera claims that “When done successfully, school-community partnerships can provide students with meaningful learning opportunities outside of school, enhance the relevance of what they learn in school, and in the process change education from one that is strictly school-based to one that is embraced by the entire community.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 99)
Third, school-community partnerships can also provide professional development services to school personnel. Schools may partner with local universities as a way to provide support to teachers in pedagogy. However, he states that those who provide the training have to have a genuine knowledge of the work performed by educators.
Fourth, the area where school-community partnership is needed most urgently is in providing health and welfare services to students and their families. The best programs are based on partnership between schools and community agencies. For example, the Children’s Aid Society in New York City operates eight community schools that offer health, dental, recreational and employment training services to students and their families. (Noguera, 2003; Dryfoos, 2001) “Throughout the United States, there are several effective models for providing a range of services to students at schools, …the number of students they serve is miniscule (because they provide their services) at individual schools sites and not a single one operates throughout an entire school district.” (Noguera, 2003, p.100)
Noguera indicates that communities with high level of poverty required a “comprehensive, city-wide strategy for providing social services at school sites.” These efforts need to be cost effective; therefore they require cooperation between school district; city and county government. City and county government provide funds for recreational, youth service, health and social services respectively. Private organizations such as YMCA, Girls and Boys Clubs, churches and non-profits are key players because they can provide additional support to students, but large corporations will have to be the front-runner of this effort since they control the bulk of resources for social services. He also points out that all three public agencies need to improve their coordination effort in delivering their services. “However, interagency cooperation is difficult to accomplish on a large scale because the individuals staffing these organizations generally have no prior history of cooperating, and bureaucratic narrow-mindedness is not a small hurdle to overcome. For this reason, leadership and support from the mayor, superintendent, school board, and county board of supervisors will be needed so that those who carry out coordination activities have the backing to overcome the obstacles they inevitably will encounter. “(Noguera, 2003, p. 101)
G. Why read this book? What critical ideas, arguments, or knowledge does the book present that education reformers, policy wonks, and politicians should consider when developing and mandating reforms?
The book titled, City Schools and the American Dream by Pedro Noguera truly makes the reader think. He gives a concise view of why some urban schools are failing, and states that even years after NCLB was enacted the achievement gap has remained almost the same. However, he does it without blaming teachers or the students.
Anyone who is interested in teaching at an urban school should read this book because he offers examples of teachers who are working within the limits and who are not given up hope in the possibility of improving urban schools. One example that stood out was an experience his friend Paul Kurose, “an exceptional math teacher and committed educator,” had with one of his tenth-grade students. This student showed academic promise but she rarely turned in her homework and she was chronically absent from school. He insisted that she needed to turn in her work and to attend class regularly and he insisted this from her on a consistent basis hoping that the pressure will change her behavior. One day she had enough of his nagging that she found the courage to tell him why she failed to turn in her homework. She said, “Do you think that you would be able to do your work if every night your mother was bringing a different man into your house to have sex and smoke crack?”
“Her situation shocked him…he gained new respect and appreciation for the fact that she made it to school at all…rather than pulling back... Paul though about how he could serve as a source of support of his needy student. To address the fact that (she) was unable to work at home, he offered to provide her tutoring after school in his classroom so that she would have a place to complete assignments. Then he helped her to enroll in the Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement program (MESA), a program sponsored by the University of California that provides minority students with extra counseling and academic enrichment to help them gain admissions to 4-year colleges. MESA offers Saturday classes and a residential summer program that would give (her) a chance to get away from her home. Finally, Paul told (her) that if she ever needed help, she should call him and he would do what he could to assist her. His efforts on behalf of this student paid off. Despite the tremendous obstacles she faced, she graduated from high school and was admitted to a local public university.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 149)
In this book, Noguera, does not offer a proven list of reforms for administrators, school reformers and policy makers. Instead, it is informative and a definite must read for school administrators and reformers who want to learn more about all the problems surrounding urban schools and how school and student achievement is influenced by poverty, drug trafficking and abuse, violence and social inequity. Pedro Noguera sends a strong message to school reformers. He insists that pressuring urban schools to close the academic gap or face consequences without giving attention to socioeconomic factors is not going to produce the outcomes they expect instead they will continue to be frustrated by more failure. He is convinced that higher standards and more tests will not make low-income urban students any smarter and the schools they attend more successful without substantial investment in the schools, and communities in which they live. Quite often, public schools are the only hope for many poor families. He believes that these students can reach the kind of achievement and success observed in economically advantaged communities.
Noguera offers policy makers, school administrators and school reformers strategies-solutions, which entails in empowering communities and investing resources in strategies that work. He insists that these strategies should be meaningful and should be implemented by people who have the experience to make a difference in urban schools. He also offers examples of model of successful urban schools that administrators and reformers can learn and expand from. He is convinced that reforms big or small will not make any difference if the reformers do not provide the basic economic and social support so desperately needed by communities with high poverty rates.
Why read this book? What critical ideas, arguments, or knowledge does the book present that education reformers, policy wonks, and politicians should consider when developing and mandating reforms? The book titled, City Schools and the American Dream by Pedro Noguera truly makes the reader think. He gives a concise view of why some urban schools are failing, and states that even years after NCLB was enacted the achievement gap has remained almost the same. However, he does it without blaming teachers or the students. Anyone that is interested in teaching at an urban school should read this book because he offers examples of teachers who are working within the limits and who are not given up hope in the possibility of improving urban schools. One example that stood out was an experience his friend Paul Kurose, “an exceptional math teacher and committed educator,” had with one of his tenth-grade students. This student showed academic promise but she rarely turned in her homework and she was chronically absent from school. He insisted that she needed to turn in her work and to attend class regularly and he insisted this from her on a consistent basis hoping that the pressure will change her behavior. One day she had enough of his nagging that she found the courage to tell him why she failed to turn in her homework. She said, “Do you think that you would be able to do your work if every night your mother was bringing a different man into your house to have sex and smoke crack?” “Her situation shocked him…he gained new respect and appreciation for the fact that she made it to school at all…rather than pulling back... Paul though about how he could serve as a source of support of his needy student. To address the fact that (she) was unable to work at home, he offered to provide her tutoring after school in his classroom so that she would have a place to complete assignments. Then he helped her to enroll in the Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement program (MESA), a program sponsored by the University of California that provides minority students with extra counseling and academic enrichment to help them gain admissions to 4-year colleges. MESA offers Saturday classes and a residential summer program that would give (her) a chance to get away from her home. Finally, Paul told (her) that if she ever needed help, she should call him and he would do what he could to assist her. His efforts on behalf of this student paid off. Despite the tremendous obstacles she faced, she graduated from high school and was admitted to a local public university.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 149) In this book, Noguera, does not offer a proven list of reforms for administrators, school reformers and policy makers. Instead, it is informative and a definite must read for school administrators and reformers who want to learn more about all the problems surrounding urban schools and how school and student achievement is influenced by poverty, drug trafficking and abuse, violence and social inequity. Pedro Noguera sends a strong message to school reformers. He insists that pressuring urban schools to close the academic gap or face consequences without giving attention to socioeconomic factors is not going to produce the outcomes they expect instead they will continue to be frustrated by more failure. He is convinced that higher standards and more tests will not make low-income urban students any smarter and the schools they attend more successful without substantial investment in the schools, and communities in which they live. Quite often, public schools are the only hope for many poor families. He believes that these students can reach the kind of achievement and success observed in economically advantaged communities. Noguera offers policy makers, school administrators and school reformers strategies-solutions, which entails in empowering communities and investing resources in strategies that work. He insists that these strategies should be meaningful and should be implemented by people who have the experience to make a difference in urban schools. He also offers examples of model of successful urban schools that administrators and reformers can learn and expand from. He is convinced that reforms big or small will not make any difference if the reformers do not provide the basic economic and social support so desperately needed by communities with high poverty rates.
A. Citation for book (In APA style)
Noguera, P. (2003). City Schools and the American Dream; New York, NY.: Tcpress.com.
B. Summary of book's argument taken as best you can from the introduction.
In City Schools and the American Dream, Noguera describes the central problems facing urban schools. Noguera attempts to provide answers to the following questions: why is it that many students don’t learn very much or very well in many of the urban schools? What is there about the schools we have created and invested billions of dollars in, that have led some students to reject school entirely and turned so many of them off to learning? Why are so many urban schools utterly inept at carrying out this basic task, a task nearly as old as human civilization itself? He also delineates potential strategies for improvement. He believes that educating all children, even those who are poor and non-white, is possible. He also discusses how external conditions affect the ability of schools to serve the needs of children and provides a possible solution what it would take to respond adequately to these needs
C. Brief description of author's background.
Pedro A. Noguera is the Judith K Dimon Professor of Communities and Schools at Harward Graduate School of Education. He has done extensive field research and served as a member of the U.S. Public Health Service Centers for Disease Control Taskforce on Youth Violence, and as Chair of the Committee on Ethics in Research and Human Rights for the American Educational Research Association. He was a teacher for a several years.
Pedro Noguera Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education
D. Description of the scope your reading, e.g. what chapters, (with titles) you plan to read.
Chapter 3: Understanding the Link Between Race and Academic Achievement
Chapter 5: Changing Schools from the Outside-In: Potential Role of Social Capital and Civic Capacity
How was your decision about what to read influenced by your goals concerning the book?
My goal is to be able to understand why minority students tend to achieve at lower rates than white students. Urban schools mostly serve students of color; therefore, I want to understand if culture – student’s family life is the cause for the achievement gap. I am also interested to know how schools can be improved from the outside-in.
E. How do you see the knowledge gained from your portion of the book contributing to the class's understanding of schools, teaching, and/or school reform?
1. Urban schools provide services desperately needed by poor families:
The parents of students attending urban schools described how important the public schools were to them. They did not complain about the overcrowded classrooms, or teachers teaching without being certified. Instead, they were appreciative that they had a safe place to send their children, a place away from the drug infested and crime-pestered neighborhood. The fact that their children were fed, and in some instances provided with health care was enough reason to be thankful about. “We are poor, without power or rights. At least our children have an education. Yes, there are problems in the schools, but we have hope that the future for our children will be better.”
For many poor students, schools provide a source of stability often lacking in other aspects of their lives.
2. For this reason, policy makers that are critical of urban public schools need to understand the how important public schools are to these communities. Their reforms cannot jeopardize the interests of these poor families without making any effort in addressing the problems their neighborhoods face.
I read that most of the popular educational reforms enacted by states and the federal government fail to address the severe social and economic conditions in urban areas that consistently affect the quality of public schools education.
F. Summary of Chapter 3 & Chapter 5:
Chapter 3: Understanding the Link Between Race and Academic Achievement
The relationship between race, class and school performance has been a consistent feature of the educational system in the United States. U.S. public schools are not the “great equalizer” as it was envisioned by Horace Mann who was the early architect of American public education; instead the inequality has been maintained over the years. The pattern of inequality that has been observed minority and disadvantaged children compared to affluent white students do less and performed at a lower level. This inequality has even been observed in schools where children of different background attend same school; white children outperform non-whites and the children of the poor perform below the more affluent students.
Why has the link between race and academic achievement endured for so long? Noguera thinks that, even though the influence of White supremacy is less relevant today, “there is evidence that its legacy and concomitant presumption of non-White inferiority are still very much a part of the present.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 43) We have to remember that during slavery and colonization, non-whites, especially blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics, were presumed or viewed as inferior people. Today, this way of thinking is politically not acceptable, however, scholars, even though they are not geneticists, periodically reintroduce into the public the thought that differences in achievement and academic performance is attributed to innate differences in intelligence and genetic abilities.
Sad but true, racial and class characteristics of the neighborhood are also link to the academic outcomes of children. Noguera said, “Demographic patterns with respect to the composition of neighborhood and schools, the relationship between school location and the test scores of children hardly seems surprising or unusual ; the scores follow a pattern that Americans historically have come to expect as “normal.” (Noguera, 2003, p.43)
Chapter 5: Changing Schools from the Outside-In: Potential Role of Social Capital and Civic Capacity
School reforms have a pattern of failure in urban school districts. Policy makers and reform advocates are convinced that other alternatives strategies to improve the quality of public education must be considered. Two sstrategies, developing social capital of parents and developing civic capacity of communities, if implemented correctly, may bring several significant changes and may be the most important steps taken to further educational reform in urban school districts and they can produce lasting changes in urban school districts.
Developing Social capital
Noguera said, “Developing the social capital of parents may be the only way to address the captured market problem.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 97) Where there is no incentive for good service or penalty for poor service, it it’s difficult to see improvement. “If the quality of service provided has no bearing on the ability of an organization to continue to operate and if those who receive the service have no way to effectively register their concerns, self-initiated change is less likely.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 97) Proponents of vouchers have understood the importance of addressing the captured market problem. They think that this is the solution to the problem, if parents are not satisfied with the quality of education offered to their children, then parents can take their children to another school. This will force bad schools to close and create competition, which ultimately will be the best way to promote reform. Voucher may appeal minority parents and parents living in low-income neighborhoods, but they do not know that only the schools have the choice who will be admitted to a school. High performing schools have limited space and private schools only favor affluent students. Research on voucher programs indicates that private schools are not better than public schools at educating low-income students. Research also indicated that private schools are seeking the opportunity to educate poor children when they leave their public schools.
On the other hand, if efforts are combined with policies that empower parents and make schools accountable to those they serve, then idea of developing the social capital of parents by addressing the captured market problem can develop changes in the education of urban neighborhoods. Chicago implemented this strategy by creating a local site council (LCS) comprised of parents and community representatives. This council has the responsibility for hiring and monitoring the performance of the school principal, reviewing and approving the school’s budget, and receiving reports on academic plans. Empowering parents must also be combined with ongoing efforts to keep parents informed about their rights and responsibilities so that the LCS does not under control or become manipulated by school administrators. The efforts to develop the social capital of parents may greatly benefit and it is a requirement to make this effort a success, community-based organizations must actively support this initiative by providing with technical assistance, translation services, and child care. For example churches with strong ties with poor neighborhoods and have seen recent immigrants, can help these parents communicate with the school of their children.
Unlike public schools, charter schools require active participation and they also provide parents a basis for collective empowerment. The common interest of the organized parents is quality education for their children. As an organized group they are at a better position to demand quality education and hold schools accountable when they don’t meet their expectations. “Strategies such as these represent significant investments in the social capital of parents because they fundamentally change the relationship between parents and schools.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 98) Unlike charter schools, public schools interact with school staff as individuals.
Developing Civic Capacity
Civil capacity also happens outside of schools. It has a direct impact. It requires organizations and institutions that do not have any direct relationship to education to play an active role in supporting schools in their efforts to provide services to students. It forces them to bring the resources they control to support public schools on their goal of educating students. It also forces them to stop blaming schools for their failures and instead to join them in their fight.
Civic capacity involves the following four different kinds of activities:
First, it entails the use of volunteers in roles as tutors and mentors for students. For example, in San Francisco, a private nonprofit corporation coordinates the recruiting and training of volunteers who provide a variety of services in schools. Americorp Program gets university students to provide college counseling, tutoring and other services to students. These strategies help schools reduce the adult-to-student ratio and help them address the needs of students who have fallen behind academically.
Second, civic capacity can involve the formation of school-community partnerships to provide work-related internships and to support in the development of career academies. Research also indicates that career academics for high school students are the most successful means for increasing student engagement in school. (Noguera, 2003; Conchas, 2001) In order to obtain maximum benefit from these programs, the internships need to produce genuine career opportunities for students. For example, Bayer Corporation at Berkeley High school is an excellent model of what a genuine career opportunity can accomplish. Students in the program receive advanced training in science and math, and also have the opportunity to pursue biotechnology through their partnership with local community colleges and universities. Noguera claims that “When done successfully, school-community partnerships can provide students with meaningful learning opportunities outside of school, enhance the relevance of what they learn in school, and in the process change education from one that is strictly school-based to one that is embraced by the entire community.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 99)
Third, school-community partnerships can also provide professional development services to school personnel. Schools may partner with local universities as a way to provide support to teachers in pedagogy. However, he states that those who provide the training have to have a genuine knowledge of the work performed by educators.
Fourth, the area where school-community partnership is needed most urgently is in providing health and welfare services to students and their families. The best programs are based on partnership between schools and community agencies. For example, the Children’s Aid Society in New York City operates eight community schools that offer health, dental, recreational and employment training services to students and their families. (Noguera, 2003; Dryfoos, 2001) “Throughout the United States, there are several effective models for providing a range of services to students at schools, …the number of students they serve is miniscule (because they provide their services) at individual schools sites and not a single one operates throughout an entire school district.” (Noguera, 2003, p.100)
Noguera indicates that communities with high level of poverty required a “comprehensive, city-wide strategy for providing social services at school sites.” These efforts need to be cost effective; therefore they require cooperation between school district; city and county government. City and county government provide funds for recreational, youth service, health and social services respectively. Private organizations such as YMCA, Girls and Boys Clubs, churches and non-profits are key players because they can provide additional support to students, but large corporations will have to be the front-runner of this effort since they control the bulk of resources for social services. He also points out that all three public agencies need to improve their coordination effort in delivering their services. “However, interagency cooperation is difficult to accomplish on a large scale because the individuals staffing these organizations generally have no prior history of cooperating, and bureaucratic narrow-mindedness is not a small hurdle to overcome. For this reason, leadership and support from the mayor, superintendent, school board, and county board of supervisors will be needed so that those who carry out coordination activities have the backing to overcome the obstacles they inevitably will encounter. “(Noguera, 2003, p. 101)
G. Why read this book? What critical ideas, arguments, or knowledge does the book present that education reformers, policy wonks, and politicians should consider when developing and mandating reforms?
The book titled, City Schools and the American Dream by Pedro Noguera truly makes the reader think. He gives a concise view of why some urban schools are failing, and states that even years after NCLB was enacted the achievement gap has remained almost the same. However, he does it without blaming teachers or the students.
Anyone who is interested in teaching at an urban school should read this book because he offers examples of teachers who are working within the limits and who are not given up hope in the possibility of improving urban schools. One example that stood out was an experience his friend Paul Kurose, “an exceptional math teacher and committed educator,” had with one of his tenth-grade students. This student showed academic promise but she rarely turned in her homework and she was chronically absent from school. He insisted that she needed to turn in her work and to attend class regularly and he insisted this from her on a consistent basis hoping that the pressure will change her behavior. One day she had enough of his nagging that she found the courage to tell him why she failed to turn in her homework. She said, “Do you think that you would be able to do your work if every night your mother was bringing a different man into your house to have sex and smoke crack?”
“Her situation shocked him…he gained new respect and appreciation for the fact that she made it to school at all…rather than pulling back... Paul though about how he could serve as a source of support of his needy student. To address the fact that (she) was unable to work at home, he offered to provide her tutoring after school in his classroom so that she would have a place to complete assignments. Then he helped her to enroll in the Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement program (MESA), a program sponsored by the University of California that provides minority students with extra counseling and academic enrichment to help them gain admissions to 4-year colleges. MESA offers Saturday classes and a residential summer program that would give (her) a chance to get away from her home. Finally, Paul told (her) that if she ever needed help, she should call him and he would do what he could to assist her. His efforts on behalf of this student paid off. Despite the tremendous obstacles she faced, she graduated from high school and was admitted to a local public university.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 149)
In this book, Noguera, does not offer a proven list of reforms for administrators, school reformers and policy makers. Instead, it is informative and a definite must read for school administrators and reformers who want to learn more about all the problems surrounding urban schools and how school and student achievement is influenced by poverty, drug trafficking and abuse, violence and social inequity. Pedro Noguera sends a strong message to school reformers. He insists that pressuring urban schools to close the academic gap or face consequences without giving attention to socioeconomic factors is not going to produce the outcomes they expect instead they will continue to be frustrated by more failure. He is convinced that higher standards and more tests will not make low-income urban students any smarter and the schools they attend more successful without substantial investment in the schools, and communities in which they live. Quite often, public schools are the only hope for many poor families. He believes that these students can reach the kind of achievement and success observed in economically advantaged communities.
Noguera offers policy makers, school administrators and school reformers strategies-solutions, which entails in empowering communities and investing resources in strategies that work. He insists that these strategies should be meaningful and should be implemented by people who have the experience to make a difference in urban schools. He also offers examples of model of successful urban schools that administrators and reformers can learn and expand from. He is convinced that reforms big or small will not make any difference if the reformers do not provide the basic economic and social support so desperately needed by communities with high poverty rates.
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Why read this book? What critical ideas, arguments, or knowledge does the book present that education reformers, policy wonks, and politicians should consider when developing and mandating reforms?
The book titled, City Schools and the American Dream by Pedro Noguera truly makes the reader think. He gives a concise view of why some urban schools are failing, and states that even years after NCLB was enacted the achievement gap has remained almost the same. However, he does it without blaming teachers or the students.
Anyone that is interested in teaching at an urban school should read this book because he offers examples of teachers who are working within the limits and who are not given up hope in the possibility of improving urban schools. One example that stood out was an experience his friend Paul Kurose, “an exceptional math teacher and committed educator,” had with one of his tenth-grade students. This student showed academic promise but she rarely turned in her homework and she was chronically absent from school. He insisted that she needed to turn in her work and to attend class regularly and he insisted this from her on a consistent basis hoping that the pressure will change her behavior. One day she had enough of his nagging that she found the courage to tell him why she failed to turn in her homework. She said, “Do you think that you would be able to do your work if every night your mother was bringing a different man into your house to have sex and smoke crack?”
“Her situation shocked him…he gained new respect and appreciation for the fact that she made it to school at all…rather than pulling back... Paul though about how he could serve as a source of support of his needy student. To address the fact that (she) was unable to work at home, he offered to provide her tutoring after school in his classroom so that she would have a place to complete assignments. Then he helped her to enroll in the Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement program (MESA), a program sponsored by the University of California that provides minority students with extra counseling and academic enrichment to help them gain admissions to 4-year colleges. MESA offers Saturday classes and a residential summer program that would give (her) a chance to get away from her home. Finally, Paul told (her) that if she ever needed help, she should call him and he would do what he could to assist her. His efforts on behalf of this student paid off. Despite the tremendous obstacles she faced, she graduated from high school and was admitted to a local public university.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 149)
In this book, Noguera, does not offer a proven list of reforms for administrators, school reformers and policy makers. Instead, it is informative and a definite must read for school administrators and reformers who want to learn more about all the problems surrounding urban schools and how school and student achievement is influenced by poverty, drug trafficking and abuse, violence and social inequity. Pedro Noguera sends a strong message to school reformers. He insists that pressuring urban schools to close the academic gap or face consequences without giving attention to socioeconomic factors is not going to produce the outcomes they expect instead they will continue to be frustrated by more failure. He is convinced that higher standards and more tests will not make low-income urban students any smarter and the schools they attend more successful without substantial investment in the schools, and communities in which they live. Quite often, public schools are the only hope for many poor families. He believes that these students can reach the kind of achievement and success observed in economically advantaged communities.
Noguera offers policy makers, school administrators and school reformers strategies-solutions, which entails in empowering communities and investing resources in strategies that work. He insists that these strategies should be meaningful and should be implemented by people who have the experience to make a difference in urban schools. He also offers examples of model of successful urban schools that administrators and reformers can learn and expand from. He is convinced that reforms big or small will not make any difference if the reformers do not provide the basic economic and social support so desperately needed by communities with high poverty rates.